Chapter 13
CHAPTER 13
Warmth from Joan’s body and the hot frothy milk seeped into Sadie’s core. Her kitchen had felt small before, but never this intimate. She slid her palm across Joan’s lower back and watched her try to pour another milky heart on top of the espresso.
Joan laughed and gave a little cry of frustration as she dragged a crooked line down the center of the foam. “Ahh, I’m so bad at this.”
“You’re doing well,” Sadie said, rubbing her back. “It takes practice.”
“I’m too distracted. I’ll have to practice at home.” Her gaze swept over Sadie in that mentally undressing way she’d been doing all morning. They’d gone from wolfing down tasty yogurt parfaits to making out to Sadie teaching Joan how to pour latte art to making out to this one last attempt.
“Your instructor’s a tad distracted, too,” Sadie said, skimming her hand down to Joan’s hip.
“I mean, your lips are right there.” Joan lifted the small metal pitcher and dropped a kiss on Sadie’s mouth. “And your cheeks.” She kissed both. “And your nose.” She brushed her lips across it. “And this neck of yours, Sadie Eagan.” She nipped at the tender skin just below Sadie’s earlobe.
Sadie grabbed the pitcher and set it on the counter so she could pull Joan against her and kiss her properly. She dug her fingers into Joan’s waves of hair while Joan cupped her butt.
“You taste so good,” Joan rumbled before licking inside Sadie’s mouth.
She grunted somewhat unsexily in response, backing against the counter, parting her legs to let Joan know it’d be one million percent fine if she wanted to haul her up to the top.
Joan pressed against her. Her thigh crept between Sadie’s, fingers teasing the skin above the waistband of her blue cigarette pants.
Ungh , she didn’t really want their first time to be an under-the-clothes kitchen quickie, but she’d take literally anything at this point. Joan was so freaking hot and got her so freaking hot, it was a wonder Sadie could form a single coherent thought around her.
Joan touched several spots near Sadie’s hips. Then her lumbar region. Uh, if she was searching for erogenous zones, she was way off.
“What are you doing?” Sadie giggled against her lips.
“Guessing where your secret tattoos are,” Joan said.
“Ah.”
Her fingers wandered under Sadie’s striped shirt to her lower spine. The touch sent electric prickles through her skin. “Can I see them from the back?”
“Maybe,” Sadie said.
“Here?” Now her hands were on Sadie’s hips.
“Maayybee.”
Joan took her sweet time tortuously grazing her fingertips across the skin around Sadie’s waist, pausing above her bellybutton. “Can I see them from the front?”
Yes, yes, sweet Sappho, YES. “Maaayyybeee.”
Her eyebrows quirked above those liquid amber eyes. “Not even a hint?”
“I don’t like spoiling the surprise. Plus I love what your eyes are doing right now.”
Joan leaned back slightly. “What are they doing?”
“They change colors. Like they go from light to dark, kind of in a swirl.” Sadie nestled her hands on Joan’s strong shoulders. “It’s really cool.”
She blinked a few times, then dragged in a deep breath.
“Feel free to do some in-depth ink investigation,” Sadie said. She pushed her chest up, knowing damn well the scoop-neck on her shirt gave Joan a generous view of the girls. Joan was always sneaking glances at the girls.
The swirling eye colors intensified as Joan stared at the twin swells. She probably didn’t even notice the stretch marks. Her energy seemed to heighten. It was a little intense.
In the near distance, Joan’s phone buzzed. It’d been vibrating off and on, but they’d been ignoring the outside world.
Her fingertips curled into Sadie’s waistband, close to one of her secret tattoos. “I want nothing else in the entire universe than to discover your secret tattoos. But I have to— I mean, I need more time. I mean, we need more time. To do this. To do it right, like you said yesterday.”
She was adorably flustered. Confident Joan didn’t seem like she’d be nervous about sleeping together, yet she kept hesitating. Maybe it was an energy absorption thing. Maybe sex felt kind of weird for her. Or incredibly wonderful if there was an energy exchange. Regardless of her reasons, they were valid and worthy of respect.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Sadie said, cradling Joan’s face in her hands.
“I’m so damn ready, sweetheart. You have no idea.”
“Oh, I have a pretty good idea,” she laughed as her heart soared. Sweetheart.
“You have to leave soon for work, and I’ve got a work thing. I’m not rushing this all-important ink exploration.”
“I don’t want to rush it, either.”
Joan wrinkled her nose in that unexpectedly cute way. “I wish we could stay in this little cocoon we’ve created between our apartments. Leave the outside world…outside.”
Sadie drew her close for a kiss. “Friday nights are usually dead at VCC. I’m home by ten-thirty.”
“That’s not late at all,” Joan said, toying with the button on Sadie’s pants.
“And tomorrow is Saturday, which just so happens to be my day off.”
“You can sleep in.”
“I can be up late tonight.” She kissed Joan again. “Very late.”
“Then let’s pick this up at ten-thirty.”
“I’m gonna be thinking about it all day.” Yessss! Finally!
The intensity of Joan’s kiss left no doubt how much she was looking forward to it, too. “I already think about you all day,” she said.
“Smooth. Very smooth.”
“Just speaking the truth.”
Like Joan would ever tell her anything but the truth.
A piercing alert wailed out of her phone. Joan instantly shifted into Super Mode and pulled away. She grabbed her phone, then started for the door. Then paused, face wrinkling in irritation.
“Is everything okay?” Sadie asked, rushing over.
“Yeah,” Joan breathed. “My friend set my home alarm off.”
A few text messages sat above the alarm notice.
Cute security system. Im in your living room. Where r u?
My locator says you’re here. I have to talk to u
Dammit do I have to set this shit alarm off to get your attention
The contact was just the letter G. Whoever G was, they had utterly ruined the moment.
Joan raised her phone. “Greta, uh, has a key but not the alarm code.”
It looked like Greta had set it off on purpose. “Is she one of those friends who expects you to drop everything whenever they need you?”
“No, she’s really not.” Joan sent a reply text. “I need to reset the alarm. Want to come with? Say hi?”
“Sure.” Ooh, maybe Greta was a Super from another city.
A petite East Asian woman with long black hair lounged in Joan’s apartment doorway, arms crossed over a leather jacket. “What’s the deal?” she said to Joan. “Mark answered my text before you.”
“Mark answers texts in the middle of sex,” Joan said.
“You guys have to—” Greta’s focus swiveled to Sadie.
“Sadie and I were having breakfast.”
Pleasure replaced wariness as Greta gradually smiled. “Sadie. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Hi,” Sadie said. Delight danced through her. Joan had talked about her!
“Greta’s one of my oldest friends.” Joan raised her eyebrows at her pal.
Hmm. Greta was very pretty, and looked to be in really good shape, and had perfectly round nails tipped with black polish, and a couple of unique rings.
And a penetrating gaze she fixated on Sadie. “You’re wondering if Joan and I have slept together,” Greta said. “We were on and off for a while but make better friends. I have no interest in her. She likes you a lot.”
Joan ducked her head in embarrassment, but Sadie grinned. “That’s refreshingly candid,” she said. “Thanks. I appreciate honest people.”
A look passed between the friends. Was Greta part of the found family, like Perry?
“How did you two meet?” Sadie asked. “Through work?”
Greta burst out laughing.
Joan thought for a moment, then said, “We met at a gym where we were both working out.” She chuckled. “Oh man, I just remembered that’s why I started saying I work at a gym. That was the origin of my fake job.”
Sobering, Greta said, “Wait, you know about…”
“That I don’t work at a gym,” Joan said.
“ What? You told—” Greta darted a glance at Sadie. “You know?”
Sadie nodded and started to say the secret was safe with her, but Joan interjected, “This isn’t the place to talk about this.” She waved her hands at the hallway. “And Sadie has to get to work.”
“My real job,” Sadie joked.
Joan touched her arm. “If you want to grab your stuff, we can head out. Let me make sure my alarm is reset. Grets, we can talk in here.”
She went inside her apartment. Greta eyeballed Sadie as she followed. Well, sure. The secret identity was a huge deal. She didn’t blame Greta for being nervous.
Sadie walked back to her place and took an extra minute to dump out their experimental beverages and rinse the dishes. She didn’t have to leave for work quite yet and figured the friends needed a bit of time.
When could she introduce Joan to her friends other than Amit and Nyah? Would they agree on the gym job as a cover? Would they have to postpone plans because Joan might have to thwart evil?
She swiped on ruby-red lipstick, then grabbed her keys and phone. The vindictive pigeon lounged on her balcony in a sliver of sunlight. “Sure, now you show up,” she told the sky rat. “Now that Joan’s not here to scare you off.”
She was halfway to Joan’s apartment when the door swung open. Joan looked half worried, half irritated. Greta held back a smile, eyes bright like she’d been laughing hard enough to cry.
“All set?” Joan said, a touch too chipper. “Mark’s on his way over. He can drive you to work.”
“All of us,” Greta said. “I want to talk to Sadie, too. This is way better than I could have imagined.”
After an awkwardly quiet elevator ride, they hit the lobby. Joan put her sunglasses on and murmured to Sadie, “Sorry about this.”
“I want to get to know your people,” Sadie assured her.
A sporty blue car screeched to a stop in front of the building. Greta opened the passenger side door to usher Joan and Sadie into the tiny backseat. In the driver’s seat, Mark was wearing sunglasses similar to his sister’s.
“Hey, Cute Neighbor Sadie,” he said. “I didn’t know you’d be joining us.”
“We’re dropping her off at work,” said Joan.
“It’s a coffeehouse, right?” Greta peered over her shoulder. “Why don’t we all go and have a snack and chat?”
One of Mark’s pale eyebrows raised above his shades. “Is Sadie involved in our little chat?”
“No.” Joan set a hand on Sadie’s arm, almost protectively.
“I have to talk to you two about some things.” Greta trained her hard-to-read expression on Sadie. “But first, Sadie, tell me all about you.”
* * *
They entered Vector City Coffee to the usual lunchtime hustle and bustle. Sadie still wasn’t sure whether Greta was vetting her for trustworthiness or being friendly. Her direct manner made it seem like the former, but that could just be Greta’s style.
Joan shared a chin nod with Nyah. Then she waved at Amit, who pretended not to notice.
“Hey, Amit,” Joan said. “How’s it going?”
He grunted in response. It was so cute how she was trying to win him over.
Everything inside Sadie wanted to kiss her and tell her tonight couldn’t come fast enough. Professionalism sadly won out as she went behind the counter to grab her apron and clock in.
Mark and Greta claimed a table while Joan stood in line. Sadie kept sneaking glances at the table duo whispering and cackling as she took care of customers. Mark settled his sunglasses on top of his head. Joan had already taken hers off. It was bright and sunny outside, so of course people with light eyes would wear protection.
Finally, Joan stood before her. She gestured at the menu board and said to the table duo, “What do you want?”
“That thing I like,” Mark said.
“A medium half-caf almond milk latte with three easy pumps of vanilla syrup and very low foam,” Greta rattled off. “ Very low foam.”
Sadie punched that in, repeating, “Very low foam.”
“Mark wants a large cold brew coffee with as much sugar as you can dump in it,” Joan said. “And he’ll want food, so a chocolate chip croissant.”
“And what would you like, ma’am?” Sadie purred.
“I think I’ll stick with the Kick Me Up. Just a small.”
“An excellent choice.”
Joan handed over a couple of bills.
“Can you get me a muffin or something?” Mark called.
“Already did,” his sister replied. “Grets, do you want something to eat?”
Greta shook her head, then studied the pastry case. “A gluten-free vegan banana nut muffin.”
“They’re so good,” Sadie told her. “Super moist, oodles of flavor.”
“Anything else?” Joan said, waiting patiently like a mom wrangling her kids.
Mark and Greta said no.
“That’s it. For now.” Her lips twitched with good humor. That was Joan for you. Taking care of her loved ones and paying her way. No freebies for this Super.
She placed the ten dollars plus change in the tip jar. Joan had such a big heart. It went beyond the promise she’d made to take care of Mark. It was simply who she was.
“OchoStrike,” Greta said.
Nyah paused beside their table, glancing at her tattoo. “You know it.”
“I’m part of the Five Hive.”
“No kidding. Wave on.”
Greta’s mouth pulled into a leisurely grin. “Wave on.”
They wiggled their fingers at each other, then launched into all things Sea Voyage Five . Joan slid an amused glance at Sadie. “That’ll keep them busy for the next hour.”
“Don’t you have to talk about something?” Sadie said.
“It’s probably nothing.”
At least it wasn’t about work. Greta seemed to be a regular friend—a “norm.”
Sadie set about making their drinks. Amit caught wind of the Sea Voyage conversation and joined with the enthusiasm he reserved for gaming. Joan thanked her when she brought the drinks over. Mark was busy swiping on some hook-up app.
What a weirdly wonderful cross-section of her life. Of Vector City.
She couldn’t help studying them as she got the pastries. The Five Hive trio huddled around Nyah’s phone. Mark and Joan traded beverages and taste-tested one another’s drinks. The vibe was relaxed and happy. Easy. Even the indie music skewed more upbeat today.
Warmth pulsed through her chest. This was the atmosphere she wanted to create at Sadie’s Café. A place where people could congregate to talk about video games or whatever their passion was. Open mic nights. Poetry readings. Artists cultivating creativity together. It’d been a dream that felt too out of reach, but now…
She could see it now.
Joan met her gaze and smiled over the cup of iced coffee. A drink she was rapidly heating because she’d said liquids were unstable. Starting a new phase of life with her in it would be a thrill ride. A Superhero girlfriend who was just as super in quiet moments like this. Exactly the sort of excitement Sadie had been craving.
Something in Joan’s content expression said she was loving the simple normalcy. This could be exactly what she was looking for, too.